Charlize Theron Says She ‘Didn’t Feel Safe’ on Mad Max Set with Tom Hardy: ‘I Was Really Scared Sh*tless’

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Charlize Theron opened up about the tension between her and Tom Hardy on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road, saying she felt unsafe enough to hire security while filming.

The revelation comes in an excerpt from reporter Kyle Buchanan’s new book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, in which the film’s cast and crew detailed the feud between co-stars.

“It was like two parents in the front of the car. We were either fighting or we were icing each other — I don’t know which one is worse — and they had to deal with it in the back,” Theron said of filming with Hardy. “It was horrible! We should not have done that; we should have been better. I can own up to that.”

The tension between the co-stars escalated after Hardy showed up late to set one day, which he had done multiple times before, according to Buchanan’s book.

“Whether that was some kind of power play or not, I don’t know, but it felt deliberately provocative,” first assistant camera Ricky Schamburg said of Hardy’s failure to show up on time. “If you ask me, he kind of knew that it was really pissing Charlize off, because she’s professional and she turns up really early.”

Theron was reportedly infuriated by Hardy’s tardiness that day, especially as she was a new mother at the time.

“She was really going to make a point,” said camera operator Mark Goellnicht. “She didn’t go to the bathroom, didn’t do anything. She just sat in the War Rig.”

When Hardy eventually showed up, Theron reportedly said producers should “fine the fucking c**t a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew.”

“She was right. Full rant. She screams it out,” Goellnicht told Buchanan. “It’s so loud, it’s so windy — he might’ve heard some of it, but he charged up to her and went, ‘What did you say to me?’”

Goellnicht went on to call Hardy “quite aggressive,” adding, “She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point.”

Theron told Buchanan that she “didn’t feel safe,” and that she asked if a female producer could be present on set to “maybe equalize some of” the tension.

Fury Road producer Doug Mitchell denied the request, instead allowing Theron to meet with the producer off-set.

“Looking back on where we are in the world now, given what happened between me and Tom, it would have been smart for us to bring a female producer in,” Theron added of the incident. “You understand the needs of a director who wants to protect his set, but when push comes to shove and things get out of hand, you have to be able to think about that in a bigger sense.”

“That’s where we could have done better, if [Fury Road director George Miller] trusted that nobody was going to come and fuck with his vision but was just going to come and help mediate situations,” she continued. “I think he didn’t want any interference, and there were several weeks on that movie where I wouldn’t know what was going to come my way, and that’s not necessarily a nice thing to feel when you’re on your job. It was a little bit like walking on thin ice.”

Theron and Hardy had addressed their on-set tension in a previous interview with Buchanan, both of the actors chalking it up to demanding working conditions and professional differences.

“I don’t want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot,” Theron told Buchanan in their recent interview. “Now, I have a very clear perspective on what went down. I don’t think I had that clarity when we were making the movie. I was in survival mode; I was really scared shitless.”

Hardy also addressed the clash while speaking to Buchanan, saying, “In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways.”

“The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me,” he added. “That’s something that can’t be faked. I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”